John Chafee

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1997,--or, TIFIA. The purpose of the bill is to bridge the gap between the Nation's substantial infrastructure needs and limited Federal funds. I am pleased to report that Senators Graham of Florida, Boxer, Hatch, Bennett, and Moynihan have joined me in cosponsoring this important measure. I think we can all agree that there is a clear shortfall of public funding to meet the Nation's transportation needs. Our effort to balance the Federal budget only makes the challenge of meeting these critical needs all the more difficult. The goals of our bill are to offer the sponsors of major transportation projects a new tool to make the most of limited Federal resources, stimulate additional investment in our Nation's infrastructure, and encourage greater private sector participation in meeting our transportation needs. TIFIA establishes a new Federal credit program for surface transportation. It will provide $800 million in credit assistance over six years to public and private entities, with the purpose of leveraging as much as $16 billion in Federal funds for major transportation projects. In turn, this Federal investment could help leverage total investment in infrastructure from other public and private entities of $40 to $50 billion. Eligible forms of credit assistance available through our proposal include loans, loan guarantees, and lines of credit. what kinds of projects would qualify for this assistance? National significance. Projects participating in this program must be determined by the Secretary of Transportation to be ``regionally or nationally'' significant. Projects must enhance the national transportation system, reduce traffic congestion, and protect the environment. Large projects. This program is targeted at large projects that are difficult, if not impossible, to fund through traditional means such as using a State's annual allocation in the Federal highway program. Projects participating in the program must cost at least 100 million dollars, or 50 percent of a State's most recent annual apportionment of federal-aid highway funds, whichever is less. Eligibility. The project must be a surface transportation facility eligible for federal assistance--i.e., a highway, transit, passenger rail, or intermodal facility. State and local support. The project must be included in the State transportation plan and be in the approved State Transportation Improvement Program. User charges. Projects must be self-financing through user fees or other non-federal revenue sources. why is this program needed in addition to state infrastructure banks? The new credit assistance program will supplement existing Federal programs, such as the State Infrastructure Banks or SIB's. Large projects of national importance are simply too big to be financed by SIB's. As start-up financial institutions, SIB's are limited in the amount of assistance they can provide in the near term. The credit assistance available through TIFIA will help fill this gap in the near term. will the federal government shoulder all of the risk for these projects? No, under TIFIA, the Federal Government will participate in the new credit assistance program as a minor investor. Our bill limits Federal participation to 33 percent of total project costs. I want to emphasize that the new credit assistance program established in TIFIA is a limited, six-year pilot program. The ultimate objective of the program is to phase out Federal participation in these large projects and allow private capital investment to take on this function. It is time to try a new approach and see how it works. The benefits of private sector involvement in this area are enormous. Giving the private sector a larger role will reduce project costs and advance construction schedules. It also will attract much needed private capital, and more equitably distribute risks between public and private sectors. Now more than ever, we must preserve the strengths of the transportation system we have in place. Yet, we also must anticipate the future, addressing new problems with innovative solutions. This new credit program is just the sort of creative mechanism we should be advancing. It is my hope that the new credit assistance program in the bill I introduce today will be included as part of the reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. As I have said before, the ISTEA reauthorization process must reach out for ideas on creative ways, like this one, to finance our infrastructure needs. The combination of our nation's transportation infrastructure needs and the significant fiscal constraints at all levels of government make this effort imperative. This measure has the endorsement of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association; PSA, the Bond Market Trade Association; the Internationals Union of Operating Engineers; the Building and Construction Trades Department; and Project America. I urge my colleagues to give this sensible measure their support. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text and description of the bill be included in the Record. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Mr. CHAFEE. I will be pleased to yield to a question from my California colleague.

Mr. CHAFEE. The Senator is correct. Through the efforts of Senator Boxer, I have become aware of the need for border infrastructure investment and of her own legislation which has been referred to our committee. The Transportation Finance and Innovation Act embraces the innovative finance objectives of the Boxer bill. Border crossing facilities and multi-State trade corridors are clearly eligible and the selection criteria specifically includes those projects which promote international commerce. This bill will enable United States manufacturers to deliver their goods to domestic and foreign markets in a more timely, and cost-effective manner.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from West Virginia, Senator Rockefeller, for his help in this. As he mentioned, this has been a very long, long difficult process. He has been very helpful. Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair.

Mr. CHAFEE. Reserving the right to object.

Mr. CHAFEE. I thank the chairman for that. I also extend my thanks to the distinguished majority leader for helping us reach this unanimous- consent agreement. I believe the resolution of this problem has been a very good one. I thank, as I say, the majority leader and the chairman of our Finance Committee and other Senators who have worked on this, particularly on our side, Senator Jeffords.

Mr. CHAFEE. That is right. The State can use its own funds. If it has been using its funds for other types of services, they can continue using their State funds for those other types of services.

Mr. CHAFEE. I would like to address this, Mr. President, if I might, to the distinguished chairman of the Finance Committee. It is also my understanding that a State would be able to use any new funds to provide health coverage for children under 200 percent of poverty and use existing State dollars, normally used for this purpose, in order to provide health care coverage for children over 200 percent of poverty.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I would like to ask the majority leader a question. As I understand it, suppose somebody has an amendment this afternoon and is prepared to go to a vote this afternoon; would there be a vote this afternoon?

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I would like to address the matter before us, and I believe the time is running anyway, is it not?

Mr. CHAFEE. I appreciate that. Again, I join with the comments the distinguished Senator from West Virginia said about the chairman of the committee. He worked hard with us on how this originally started, and we are grateful to him coming as far as he did. We would be even more grateful if he came a little further. I thank the Chair.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I cannot vouch for what my distinguished colleague from West Virginia was saying in that last statement, about who was willing to accept it. I am not sure of all that. All I know is I worked with the distinguished chairman of the committee and his staff. We were making some progress but I can't account for what resulted in it not being finally accepted. That is beyond my knowledge.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, the Senator from New York, Senator D'Amato, asked to be added as a cosponsor.

Mr. CHAFEE. I yield 4 minutes to my colleague from West Virginia.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, there are some saying, ``Oh, you are giving them a Cadillac package.'' It is just not so. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a comparison between what Medicaid provides, which some could say is a Cadillac package, and what we have in here, which we provide, which is just what the Blue Cross provides. You can see as you look down the list that Blue Cross does not cover shoes and corrective devices, transportation to medical services, family counseling, hearing care or vision care. So we go with the Blue Cross package with the exception of adding vision care and hearing assistance.

Mr. CHAFEE. I ask that I might have 5 minutes on Senator Roth's time on this matter.

Mr. CHAFEE. We are talking about children at 133 percent of poverty or less. So I do not think this is going overboard. I very much hope this could be accepted. Mr. President, it is a good amendment and all it does is provide that we know what the benefits are going to be for these children and we include with the standard package known throughout the country through the FHEPA that we provide for the vision care and hearing assistance. Mr. President, I am delighted to support this package and would be delighted to have any other assistance, cosponsors.

Mr. CHAFEE. Yes.

Mr. CHAFEE. How much time does he have--equally divided?

Mr. CHAFEE. It can be done by unanimous consent tomorrow, I see. Division II--Amendment No. 440

Mr. CHAFEE. No.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I didn't quite understand what the request was--that Senator Lott be permitted to what?

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I send a second-degree amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.